Brevard County TSA Support Group Celebrates One Year Anniversary
This August, Brevard County's Suport Group turned one year old. Brevard is known as the Space Coast and the group supports those with Tourettte's within the 72 mile long county, ranging from Titusville to the north, Cocoa and Viera in the center and Melbourne and Palm Bay to the south.
Longtime supporter Eleanor Curry helped Wendy Dabbs get the Brevard group up and running. Eleanor and her family founded the Florida Chapter and was awarded the first National TSA
Lifetime Achievement Award in Spring of 2006. In this first year, the group has flourished and has been working extensively with parents and the Brevard county school system, becoming the go-to group and community resource for Tourette Syndrome.
Read this great excerpt which helped launch the chapter >
Local Tourette's Chapter Forms Group
To Help People Struggling with Disorder
By Gayla Schaefer
for Florida Today, July 20, 2005
Wendy Dabbs spent years searching for help and answers to the tics her son, Dustin, had experienced since he was 2, but no doctor could provide an explanation. Then a family friend suggested it might be Tourette's syndrome.
"I had never heard of the disease," she said. "I read about it online and was able to diagnose it myself and the doctors then agreed."
Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder that appears in childhood or adolescence. As with 9-year-old Dustin, the first symptoms usually are rapid, involuntary, frequent and repetitive movements that sometimes include verbal tics. Associated conditions can include everything from attention problems to obsessive-compulsive behavior and learning disabilities.
"It was heartbreaking," said Dabbs, who lives in north Melbourne. "There really is no specific treatment and we have spent a year trying medications for everything from depression to high blood pressure."
Full Story Continues...
For more information, e-mail wdabbs@cfl.rr.com or call 254-8201.
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Visit the Brevard Support Group site here. |
